Strategic human resource management at Praxair

This article describes the human resource management system in place at Praxair. Key emphases of Praxair's HRM infrastructure include (1) competency development and performance‐management processes and (2) team‐based performance systems, which include four levels of measurement: company‐wide, business‐unit, cross‐functional teams within business units, and special‐initiative project teams. Key challenges for the future include (1) prioritization of choices in support of the firm's global growth initiatives, (2) employee development and new talent acquisition, (3) designing more effective methods to anticipate business needs and provide strong, proactive leadership, (4) accelerating leadership development and influencing adequate investment in education and development programs, and (5) designing and implementing effective methods to acquire new talent to support business strategies. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The consensus between Italian HR and sustainability managers on HR management for sustainability-driven change – towards a ‘strong' HR management system

By sustainability-driven change, we mean the transformation of a company into an active agent of broad sustainable development. This paper focuses on two key features of this transformation: (i) the key role played by the company's human resource (HR) management system within that process; and (ii) the fact that the transformation involves a variety of agents and that, among others, HR and sustainability managers are pivotal to the success of the process. Gaining consensus between them on those aspects of the HR system that support sustainability-driven change is a key success factor, as it results in a ‘strong' HR management system that sends coherent messages to the organization. In addition, consensus between the two managers can be critical in preparing a compelling business case for sustainability for the senior management of the organization. This paper explores the level of consensus between the HR and sustainability managers using a survey of 89 managers in Italian companies committed to sustainability. The results of our research indicate which elements of an HR management system are seen as important for sustainability-driven change by both the HR and the sustainability managers and what differences in perception exist between them. Based upon our findings, implications for HR practice and research are then advanced and discussed.     

New Business Development: A Challenge for Transformational Leadership

This article analyzes how the behavior of CEOs of major divisions of corporations who are successful at new business development differ in behavior from those who attempted new business development programs and failed. Successful top managers affected organization transformation via three major differences in leadership behavior. Successful CEOs inspired pervasive commitment throughout their division. They built confidence in their subordinates' ability to develop new business. Finally, they found ways of applying appropriate disciplines to the process, particularly in the ara of management of failure. Challenges for the HRM function in terms of orchestrating these CEO behaviors are discussed.     

Professors,managers, and human resource education

his article examines whether Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs adequately prepare human resource professionals. It also compares managers' and professors' evaluations of the competencies HR managers will need in the twenty‐first century. It finds that both managers and professors view interpersonal and problem‐solving competencies and integration of HR with bottom line concerns as more important than technical know‐how. HR managers, however, are much more critical of what MBA programs are doing than are HR professors. HR professors may be risking complacency about their product. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Information systems project manager soft competencies: A project‐phase investigation

This article investigates the soft competencies by project phase that information systems (IS) project managers require for project success. The authors conducted 33 qualitative interviews to collect data from a sample of 22 IS project managers and business leaders located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The authors identified the key competencies for each of the IS project phases (initiation, planning, implementation, and closeout). The competencies were sorted into competency categories: personal attributes (e.g., eye for details), communication (e.g., effective questioning), leadership (e.g., create an effective project environment), negotiations (e.g., consensus building), professionalism (e.g., lifelong learning), social skills (e.g., charisma), and project management competencies (e.g., manage expectations). Each of the most important competencies is discussed and interconnections among competencies identified. How this research can be used by the practitioner and academic communities and the broader implications of this research are examined.     

Do project managers' leadership competencies contribute to project success?

This article explores the following hypothesis: There is a statistically significant relationship between a project manager's leadership competencies and project success. Two proven questionnaires, the leadership dimensions questionnaire (LDQ) and the project success questionnaire (PSQ), were used to gather data from 52 project managers and project sponsors from a financial services company in the United Kingdom. The results from the LDQ and PSQ are presented in this article. A factor analysis of PSQ revealed three independent factors: usability, project delivery, and value of output to clients. The last factor is not related to project leadership or management, so the article concentrates on correlations between the other two factors and project leadership. Eight separate leadership dimensions were found to be statistically significantly related to performance, so the hypothesis was largely supported. Identifying such relationships provides managers with guidance on possible selection and project improvement models, whereby increased capability in leadership dimensions can lead to increased success in project management.     

Review of Scandinavian leadership development programs: Open and closed customization

Leadership development programs (LDPs) have proliferated and diversified but still usually share the ambition of involving the participants’ on-the-job experiences. Yet, the dominant view hereof is crude, not acknowledging the variety of ways used to accomplish it. The Scandinavian context is illustrative for reviewing what we term ‘customization devices’ because of its tradition for LDPs with collective reflection, practice orientation, and broad participation. This review curates and synthesizes 31 studies evaluating empirical experiences with customization devices in Scandinavian university-based LDPs from no earlier than 2010. Such devices fall within three key categories, namely theories, cases, and relationships, and have three key effects: distancing from practice, dedicating to the program, and devising future action. Based on our findings, we challenge the dominant view that open enrollment programs cannot adequately mobilize participants’ experiences by theorizing the distinction between open and closed customization. The review further serves as a resource for LDP designers and instructors to carefully choose and mix customization devices that are complementary in their effects.     

Valuing Japan-based German expatriate and local manager's functions: do subsidiary age and managerial perspectives matter?

Managerial functions valued by expatriates and reasons for appointing host country managers were examined in an exploratory, multimethod (interview and questionnaire) study with expatriates and local managers as the respondents. Based on theoretical perspectives of agency theory, transaction costs theory, resource-based views and organizational learning theory, changes in the valuation of these functions were hypothesized and examined for subsidiary age and nationality of the respondent. Expatriate and local managers' views supported previous research on certain management functions but differed on others (e.g. management development). The data indicated curvilinear relationships for a number of managerial functions between nationality of top manager and age of the subsidiary. Strategic factors were analysed by subsidiary age and nationality of the respondent manager to understand more about maturity of host company operations and strategic orientations. The results indicated the growth in the strategic functions of technological leadership and market development/branding in older subsidiaries. Implications of the results were discussed.     

Subordinates' perception of managers' transformational leadership style and satisfaction: a comparison of electronic manufacturing companies in Mainland China and Taiwan

Rapid economic growth has made leadership studies a significant subject in Asia. The present research compared subordinates' different perceptions of managers' transformational leadership style in Mainland China and Taiwan. Quantitative methodology was used in collecting 250 random samples from Shanghai and Taipei. Subordinates in Taiwan perceived that more managers had a transformational leadership style and also employees had higher satisfaction with managers' leadership style than those in Mainland China. The results of the present research would provide suggestions and directions for industrial managers seeking to display appropriate management behavior for an effective business environment.     

Are top human resource specialists 'strategic partners'? Self-perceptions of a corporate elite

Despite the existence of various large-scale surveys of human resource specialists, there has been little research focusing specifically on the top cohort of HR practitioners. In addition, the surveys offer little insight into the ambiguous, but important questions associated with the strategic management process in large, complex corporations. This article reports a study of the qualifications, work histories, role orientations and strategic contributions of the most senior HR specialists in the New Zealand business sector. These elite practitioners typically demonstrate a 'dual background' in specialist HR activities and line management, and strongly subscribe to Legge's notion of 'conformist innovation'. As in the United Kingdom, they tend to focus primarily on the management of managers and, to a lesser extent, the management of industrial relations. Their work is increasingly integrated with other spheres of the business such as quality management. Whether their contribution is regarded as 'strategic' depends on the model of strategic management that informs the question. This paper argues that the survey-based studies have inappropriately adopted 'outside-in' models of strategic management which privilege marketing notions and assume that 'formulation' is more strategic than 'implementation'. The work of these senior HR specialists is more fairly assessed under a conception of the strategic problem which balances external and internal concerns. Given the present realignment of strategy theory, the challenge facing these HR specialists is that of developing frameworks for corporate planning and performance analysis which attribute a more central role to the critical elements of HRM.     

Impact of nontechnical leadership practices on it project success

This article examines the leadership practices utilized by information technology (IT) project managers that contribute to project success. Specifically, technical and nontechnical leadership practices are contrasted. The importance of nontechnical leadership practices in IT project management has been largely ignored in research until recently. The article identifies key nontechnical leadership practices that are important for the success of IT projects. The article is based on a qualitative study that gathered data from actual IT projects conducted at U.S. companies across several different industry segments. Study results are analyzed to determine the relevance and value of Heifetz's adaptive leadership framework to the area of IT project management. Study findings indicate that nontechnical leadership practices are important to the success of IT projects. Findings also indicate that Heifetz's adaptive leadership framework is consistent with the key nontechnical leadership practices that are important for the success of IT projects. A framework for the development of IT project managers is also proposed.     

The Conduct of Management and the Management of Conduct: Contemporary Managerial Discourse and the Constitution of the ‘Competent’ Manager*

The character and conduct of the manager has formed a central focus of attempts to govern economic life throughout the present century. and current programmes of organizational change involve radical attempts to reconstitute the nature and conduct of management. This is attempted through the identification and implementation of management competencies. Discourses of organizational reform such as human resource management, total quality management and business process re-engineering all place a critical emphasis on anti-bureaucratic, organic and flexible forms of organization, which are also seen to require the development of particular capacities and predispositions among managers. Essential to their vision of ‘managerial work’ is a composite of ‘entrepreneurial’ attributes. Management competencies appear to offer a congenial method for the reconstitution of the manager along ‘entrepreneurial’ lines, not simply because they are inherently founded on managers'self-management and self-presentation of identified behaviours, but also because they represent individualized forms of business functions (and are often associated with the establishment of market relations within the organization).     

What makes a good project manager?

There is a growing awareness within project‐based sectors of the relationship between performance and managers' competencies. This article reports on research that investigated the competency profile of ‘superior’ project managers working within the construction industry, one of the most complex and dynamic project‐based industrial sectors. The study combined an assessment of both their behavioural competencies and job‐task competencies. The results reveal that while their job‐task competencies are highly specific to the industry in which they work, the behavioural competencies of superior project managers are mostly generic in nature and apply to a range of other management positions. This research shows how it is practically possible to identify the competency profile of superior managers and utilise this framework for managing the performance of this key management group.     

Exploring the connections among spiritual leadership,altruism, and trust in family businesses

The purpose of this study is to test the claim that the top manager family members’ altruism and trust with regard to other family members should be connected with these top managers’ spiritual leadership feature. Data are collected from the top manager family members, who are in charge of their family businesses in Beylikduzu Organized Industrial Zone. Many instruments’ items are used for spiritual leadership, altruism and trust. The scope of spiritual leadership is wider than those of altruism and trust; besides references to the family, spiritual leadership also includes references to the participants, their subordinates and their businesses. The participants’ spiritual leadership factors are powerfully and positively related with their altruism and trust with regard to other family members. If altruism and trust are posited to affect spiritual leadership factors, this effect is partly achieved. Only some items of altruism and trust can affect spiritual leadership feature. The literature points out that spiritual leadership is suitable for family businesses on the grounds that intra-family altruism and trust can be related with spiritual leadership feature. The current study proves this relationship. Such knowledge can be used for family business succession, mentoring and coaching applications in family businesses, conflict management towards the issues related with both the family and the business, and structuring family’s involvement in the business.     

Emotional and interpersonal competencies and leader development

A variety of recent leader development programs have focused on improving leaders' emotional and interpersonal competencies. Decades of leadership research suggest that these “people skills” are crucial for leader effectiveness. This paper reviews the history of these leader development programs as well as research on emotional and interpersonal competencies. Suggestions for grounding leader development programs in sound research on emotional and social competencies, as well as an agenda for future research on the development of leader emotional and interpersonal skills, are provided.     

Coaching models for leadership development: An integrative review

The purpose of this article was to describe and compare coaching models and to address their relevance to the advancement of leadership. Coaching has become a popular strategy for leadership development and change in complex environments. Despite increasing popularity, little evidence describes the necessity and impact of coaching. An integrative literature review from 1996 to 2010, retrieved through seven databases, reference tracking, and consultation with academic networks, led to inclusion of peer‐reviewed articles on coaching models. Themes and critical elements in the selected coaching models were analyzed. The search yielded 1,414 titles. Four hundred twenty‐seven abstracts were screened using inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 56 papers were retrieved for full‐text screening. Ten papers were included: two coaching models from health care settings, seven from business settings, and one from a medical education institution. Critical components of coaching models are: coach–coachee relationship, problem identification and goal setting, problem solving, transformational process, and mechanisms by which the model achieves outcomes. Factors that impact positive coaching outcomes are: coach's role and attributes, selection of coaching candidates and coach attributes, obstacles and facilitators to the coaching process, benefits and drawbacks of external versus internal coaches, and organizational support. The elements of coaching models identified in this review may be used to guide future research on the effectiveness of coaching as a leadership strategy.     

Examining the overseas staffing options utilized by Australian headquartered multinational corporations

MNCs need to use a range of options to manage their international operations. The aim of this study was to enhance understanding of how MNCs staff international management positions using a sample of top Australian MNCs across a range of industries. The rationales executives gave for their MNCs' staffing of international management supported selecting managers with higher competency levels for complex overseas assignments. Staffing options were chosen to reduce risks from cultural friction, divergent goals, and asymmetry in knowledge between the parent company and the host operation, chiefly through staffing by parent country nationals (i.e. long-term expatriates, Australians or Westerners already living in the host country or abroad, domestic international managers). Host country managers were used to reduce risks that arose from not being responsive to the host environment and to avoid costs, and when they were least risky to the firm. By contrast, the staffing options also served practical purposes, including deploying expatriate managers to provide skills (competencies) and, less frequently, to develop managers for future management positions in the organization.     

Four Lessons Learned in How to Use Human Resource Analytics to Improve the Effectiveness of Leadership Development

The tools and methodologies being developed in the emerging field of human resource analytics can be used both to measure the impact of your organization's investment in leadership development and, perhaps more importantly, to improve the return on that investment. In particular, analytics can be used to move your organization beyond one‐size‐fits‐all competencies by identifying the unique leadership competencies that drive your organization's business results (sales, profits, and employee turnover). Your employee “engagement survey” is a powerful, but typically underutilized, tool for doing so. By linking it with other, disparate pieces of data (180/360 assessments, Learning Management System (LMS) records, turnover, and financial data), you create the foundation for understanding where leadership competencies explain variation (positive and negative) in your organization's business results. This, in turn, creates a strong evidence base for optimizing your leadership development strategy—and is done so using metrics and analysis, which is the language of CEOs and CFOs.     

Issues in the implementation of proactive environmental strategies

Management consultants, environmental groups, and industry trade associations have all recently offered guidelines for companies to improve environmental performance.¹ The guidelines suggest ways that companies can implement strategic change to move beyond compliance with regulation, assume responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products, and gain public credibility. Much of the advice offered can be useful to managers who are responding to rapidly changing environmental pressures. Nevertheless, implementation of some of the general guidelines could impose undue costs or introduce untoward organisational consequences for certain companies. While mentioned as an issue in the management literature, companies need more systematic advice on how best to tailor these broad guidelines for environmental strategic change to the specific needs and capabilities of their companies. In addition, as many companies are comprised of diverse business units that are sometimes linked together only through financial controls, managers must adapt environmental management programs to unique ‘substructures’ within the firm. These substructures can differ dramatically in their environmental performance and their management capabilities. Elsewhere we have offered a framework for analysing environmental strategies and management programs.² In this paper, we identify some of the implementation issues that confront companies when they introduce environmental strategic change. We argue that environmental strategies are most effectively implemented when they are consistent with the organisational characteristics and operating context of the company involved. We use Volvo's experience with environmental strategic change to highlight many of the difficulties that companies may encounter when altering their approach to environmental performance. The case illustrates how a company can modify its own strategy and management programs for more effective change. It is an interesting case to study because of the proactive and comprehensive nature of Volvo's environmental strategy and management programs.     

Introduction

This symposium addresses the challenge of educating global leaders through a collection of scholarly perspectives and practices that focus the development of global leadership and intercultural competency, specifically through immersive international contexts. Through this symposium, we addressed the cognitive, behavioral, and affective competencies that aspiring leaders need to be successful in global contexts. It focuses on the importance, issues, and methods of developing global competence as part of leadership education. Although this symposium is timely, global and intercultural competence is not new. Scholars of 19th‐century Europe shaped the original thoughts of global competence. Their focus was internationalization through colonial conquering, and the ultimate goal was to “learn from the West” (Baumgratz, 1995). This globalization piece did not gain much attention on an international scale. In fact, many managers in the 1960s and 1970s did not consider the international piece of business to be of much importance, often with very small specialized operational departments as the sole contributor to globalization within organizations (Morrison, 2000). However, a rapid shift of perspective occurred in the 1980s when the rise of Japanese businesses began to bring to focus the importance of global leadership. The climate of this theoretical foundation has shifted again recently as leadership educators are faced with preparing students to meet the needs of a dynamic and complicated organizational landscape. Expanding these challenges globally comprises a new level of preparedness for aspiring leaders. Globalization, and the technology that increasingly bridges countries and cultures, requires fresh paradigms and new leadership competencies (Bueno & Tubbs, 2004). Global managers will be expected to master an ever‐expanding range of knowledge and skills that will allow them to be successful in international contexts (DiStefano & Maznevski, 2003). Cultural competency development and a globalized curriculum are perhaps paramount to this charge as educators embark upon the challenging journey of providing the next generation of global leaders. The following questions provide educators with opportunities for reflection and discussion as we attempt to develop global competencies in the students we serve.